New bike? Must be spring!

[Haxman]

Hi guys, I'll try n keep this short :-)

Looking to buy a new bike in the next couple of months: Main use is pleasure/fitness. I'd say probably 75% road, and 25% light/medium off-road - no rocks, just mud n gravel.
I have about £350-£450.
I'd like a bit of suspension-probably hard-tail and possibly discs.
Would a hybrid work for me? This kinda thing?
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/crosstrail-disc-2011-hybrid-bike-ec025038

Or would a light MTB be better? Are there such things as MTB's which lean towards road use, rather than the other way round(road to a bit of off-road?).
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
Tony

 

[jugglingphil]

If you do go for the crosstrail, then the elite model is reduced at Evans to be the same price. What's not to like about that?

I'm not the best person to comment on what bike best suits, seams to tick all the boxes.
When deciding what bike, be honest about the riding you do. It's easy to get carried away!

 

[Paulus]

Personally i would forget suspension, to much of the effort in turning the pedals goes into the suspension. For the type of riding you want to do how about something like this?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/sirrus-2011-hybrid-bike-ec023871